Cardstock Model: Old City Hall of Rochester MN

 

This city hall of Rochester, MN was built in 1932 and was used for that role 67 years.  It is now used as a living space (see here).  I made a stylized model of it (the building is quite large) and I had to omit the back end so it would fit on my fireplace mantle. 

To build it you just need to:

1. Down load the three (3) PDFs from these links:
1. Rochester_MN_SW_1_Ave_224_OldCityHall_page_1_of_3.pdf
2. Rochester_MN_SW_1_Ave_224_OldCityHall_page_2_of_3.pdf
3. Rochester_MN_SW_1_Ave_224_OldCityHall_page_3_of_3.pdf
2. Send them to Officemax or a similar print service.   Choose 8.5"x11" size and 100-lbs cardstock.  And color.  
3. Assemble tools/materials:  scissors, a utility knife to score edges, and Elmer's glue.  Oh, and a toothpick to spread the glue on the tabs.

Assembled card stock model of old City Hall

Photo from Google Maps

From an old postcard

The 1/150th Japanese N-scale model being made in Inkscape

Cardstock Model: Office Building Shared by Mayo Brothers and Father

 

Rochester, MN is home to the Mayo Clinic.  Started by brothers Charles and William Mayo, they shared an office with their physician father early in their careers.  It was in the "Cook Block" building.  It no longer exists, but I made an N-scale (1/150th Japanese scale) card stock model of it.  Feel free to download and build it.  Just print the two pages on 8.5"x11" card stock (I send them to Officemax for a really nice print job).

The two PDF files for the building can be downloaded here:

1. Rochester_MN_CookBlock_OriginalMayoOfficeBuilding.page_1_of_2.pdf
2. Rochester_MN_CookBlock_OriginalMayoOfficeBuilding.page_2_of_2.pdf

Photo of assembled card stock building

Cook Block photo from Wikimedia.org

Two Inkscape Projects to create two PDFs...

Old Chateau Theater of Rochester MN to SVG - Part I

Now that winter is fast approaching, I find myself getting back to some of my previous interests... such as wanting to make SVG models of interesting buildings in Rochester, MN.  The idea being to have a PDF that can be printed out on card stock, cut, and glued.   

Just below is the original photo I took looked like (f/10.0, 16mm, ISO100, 1/100sec).  Note all the distortion.  I had to use a wide angle lens.  Using Pixlr Editor (not the Express or O-Matic versions), I was able to use "Edit->Free Distort" and straighten it out as you see above.

I did a very rough/quick prototype in Inkscape of the front.  There's a lot of detail to model and I'll need to get the sizes/proportions done properly.

Aerial shot of the theater.  I think using Google maps I can get a direct above satellite photo to determine the outer dimensions of the building.  Once I have that I can then look at the proportions and figure out exact sizes/dimensions of the model.  I'll have to spend some time tinkering around with the entrance way and fitting up an accurate marquee.